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by fanfictiongoddess
Summary: Cranes have been disappearing at an alarming rate. And the only one who can lead Po and the five to who's doing this isn't all there in his mind. Can they protect the witness and find out who did this, before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

It looked like the afternoon was going to be clear for Monkey and Crane. Though it was a shocking and embarrassing outing (to the others, as well as Monkey and Crane) when the others discovered Crane and Monkey up to a physical contact that wasn't even close to training, it turned out for the best. Po and Viper were the most understanding of them all about their relationship. And the others accepted it.

So today was supposed to be their first outing an a recognized couple. At least, it was supposed to be. They hadn't even left Monkey's room when Po knocked.

"Looks like Po learned to knock first." Crane said.

"Well, after last time he didn't..." Monkey started to say.

"Monkey? Crane? You in there? Shifu wants to see us all in the grand hall right away." Po said.

Well, that ruined their plans.

"We'll be right there." Crane said.

Once Po walked away Crane sighed and looked to Monkey.

"Looks like the outing will have to wait."

Monkey only grinned and gave a quick kiss to the side of Cranes neck.

"It can wait. We have plenty of time."

Soon, the Furious Five and Po were gathered before Shifu. Shifu seemed bothered. Not the most bothered he ever seemed, but whatever news he had couldn't be good.

"You're all here? Good. It seems we have a issue to deal with. One that you might find worrisome, Crane."

Crane blinked, shocked he had been addressed.

"I'm not sure how many of you have heard of "Crane village". While the village isn't exclusively home to cranes, they do number a high population of them. And lately that number has been decreasing. Since there had been no bodies discovered it was thought this was a series of kidnappings. Two days ago, those suspicions were confirmed."

"Did they catch the kidnapper in the act?" Tigress asked.

"Not quite. It's more the fact that one of the cranes that was kidnapped a couple of years ago escaped." Shifu said.

"Oh. So we're going to go kick some kidnapper tail then?" Po asked before the look Shifu gave made Po revise his thought. "Orrrr not? But if we have a witness who knows where they are-"

"Who knows where what is again?" a voice asked next to Po.

Po was starting to answer back to that question when his brain processed that he did not know that voice at all. He glanced to his right and came face to beak with a rather disheveled looking Red-Crowned crane. For some reason Po noted that the bird had a rather dried out Lilly pad draped over his back.

"Whoa! When did you... whoever you are, get in here?" Po asked.

"Mmmm, let's see. You were eating something when I got here. And making a funny noise when you did." the crane said, then proceeded to try and imitate the sound he had heard earlier.

It must had been a good impression because Monkey and Mantis were cracking up, Crane, Viper, and Tigress seemed amused, and Shifu was hiding a smile behind his sleeve.

"I do not sound like that. Though... if I did I'd say that's a good impression of how I would sound like." Po said.

"This is Fu. He was discovered walking down a road to the Crane village while in a rather confused state. Those who found him thought it was shock but..." Shifu started when Fu stated poking at Shifu's ears with his beak.

"You have big twitchy ears." Fu said.

"As you can see, he's not entirely... there, anymore." Shifu finished.

"So you mean, he's crazy?" Mantis asked.

"Mantis!" Viper hissed.

"I'm just saying that it's going to be hard to get information out of a crazy guy."

Viper's light swat with the tail end of her body shut Mantis up. Fu did not seemed bothered by the talk of his mental state. Instead he was humming to himself rather cheerfully. He then seem to suddenly spot Crane. A wide grin came to his beak and he stepped over to Crane.

"Hi! Did you get away too? That's great! We're get away buddies!" Fu said.

"Uhh, no. I'm sorry but I didn't escape from anywhere." Crane said, hoping the truth would not upset Fu.

Fu frowned slightly, though it appeared to be more a frown of confusion then anything else.

"Oh. I guess that's why your wing tips grew back so fast. Because they never got clipped."

That last comment made Crane's eyes widen and he looked at Fu's wings. As Fu's words suggested, his wings had been slipped.

"What sicko does this?" Crane found himself whispering.

"Wait, so he can't fly?" Po asked.

Crane shook his head.

"As of now, no. I mean, eventually he will be again but... people don't do this! To clip a birds wings is to cripple them." Crane cried.

"More of a reason to find out who is behind this and stop them." Shifu said.

"No offense Master Shifu, but why are we the ones to deal with... him?" Tigress asked, pointing over to Fu who was now gazing at his reflection in the dragon pool.

"Because, he escaped. And I doubt those who captured him in the first place will leave him be." Shifu said. "So for now, we are the ones to keep him safe."

"I think he's drowning in the dragon pool." Monkey said.

Shifu glanced to the dragon pool to see Monkey was right. One quick rescue later, Shifu was coming to really regret this assignment.


	2. Chapter 2

"Lord Xiang, crane number fifteen has been located. Unfortunately, there's a issue with retrieval." a pig servant dressed in orange and back said, bowing before his master.

Said master was a tall, male tiger. The orange of his pelt was lighter then most tigers, making his black stripes stand out more. At the moment he was more invested in looking over a crane in one of the large bird cages in the room. One of many. The room itself was filled with cages, almost one of them holding a crane.

One would think a room filled with cranes would be noisy. But the room was practically silent. Some of the cranes stared at Xiang with fear and some with a deep sadness. Some didn't even bother to open their eyes.

Such as the one Xiang was looking over now. He suddenly let out a deep sigh.

"It's funny. A bird that is suppose to symbolize longevity and immortality dies so very easily. One would think they would have a greater will to live."

The servant wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Answering Xiang the wrong way could lead to trouble that the servant was not ready to deal with. He was still trying to think of an answer when Xiang called out for more servants.

"Remove this pile of feathers in the cage. And have the hunters find me a new crane to replace this one as soon as possible." Xiang snapped at the two servants who entered.

Neither servant flinched at the order to remove the dead crane. They had been given this order many times. Xiang then turned to the pig servant, finally looking at him.

"So then. What is this issue? Surely it's nothing my hunters can't handle." Xiang said.

"I'm not quite sure. Crane number fifteen was brought to the Jade Palace in the Valley of Peace for protection." the servant said quickly.

Xiang frowned. Now he fully understood what the problem was.

"Yes... that is a problem. I suppose I'll have to send Xi Xu out on their retrieval."

The servant frowned slightly.

"Forgive me master, but isn't Xi Xu more for the stabbing and slashing type of missions? I don't think he'll be good to bringing back anyone alive."

"Of course he wouldn't be. Xi Xu is more for distracting the warriors at the Jade palace while my hunters get a hold of crane number fifteen." Xiang said, then paused in thought. "Now that I think about it, one of the warriors there is in fact a crane. Is it not?"

"That is true, my lord."

A grin came onto Xiang's face.

"I see. Well, inform my hunters that they will find my new crane with crane number fifteen."


	3. Chapter 3

"So, I guess you'll be staying in my room for now." Crane said as he lead Fu to his room.

Fu glanced around the room before grinning.

"Wow! It's so... room like! Though, I suppose that's all rooms. Or, they just wouldn't be rooms, would they?"

Crane couldn't help but chuckle a bit at this.

"No. I suppose they wouldn't be. So anyways, I can set up a-" Crane paused as Fu made his way to the corner of the room and placed the Lilly pad that he had draped over his back, in the corner.

A tilt of the odd cranes head showed he was thinking. Without a word Fu used his beak to move it over a bit more to the left. He gave a satisfied nod and turned back to face Crane.

"All unpacked." Fu said.

"I see. If you don't mind me asking, why are you carrying that Lilly pad around?" Crane asked.

"Because it's my friend. I couldn't just leave it behind, now could I?" Fu said.

"And I suppose you have a few rocks as some buddies too." Crane couldn't help but quip.

"No way! Rock's are liars. Why would I want liars to share a room with me?" Fu replied with a snort.

Well, that had to be one of the oddest things he heard come out of Fu's beak today. Of course, who knew how long Fu would be with them. So he would probably have more chances to hear odd things.

"What's this about rocks being liars?" Monkey asked, peeking in.

Crane glanced over to Monkey with a smile.

"According to Fu, rocks lie."

"Not just lie! They plan... and fall... lots of falling." Fu said, his eyes glazing over slightly in a worrying manner.

Monkey and Crane glanced at each other and Monkey waved a hand before Fu's face. It took Fu about five seconds for his eyes to focus and for him to shake his head.

"Where was I?" he asked.

Both Monkey and Crane figured it be a bad idea to get Fu back on the conversation topic of rocks. Thankfully, Fu got his own new topic.

"So, when do we get fed?" Fu asked.

"Do you mean when we eat? Normally we don't have dinner until a few more hours. But if your hungry now I'm sure we can easily get you something to eat." Monkey said.

Fu blinked, as if this news was shocking.

"You mean you can get food yourself? Whenever you want?" Fu asked.

'"Of course." Monkey said.

It didn't take long for Fu to want to go to the kitchen. Unsurprisingly Po was already in there when they arrived.

"You're not getting into my cookie stash, are you Po?" Monkey asked, half joking.

Po winced.

"Huh? What? No. Of course not. I don't even know where your new hiding spot for them is." Po said quickly.

"You were looking for them. Weren't you?"

"Yeah."

Monkey sighed. He was just glad he found a good hiding place for the cookies this time. Po quickly changed the subject when he saw Fu.

"Oh, Hey there Fu. Came to get something to eat?"

Fu nodded peering around for something to eat.

"Well, I have a great idea. How about we all take a trip down to my dads shop? I think Fu would probably like some noodles." Po suggested.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea, Po. We're suppose to be protecting him. And I'm not sure Fu is ready for the public." Crane said, frowning.

"Oh come on, how bad could it get?"


	4. Chapter 4

The look that came over Fu's once they entered the village was a shocked and happy one. Perhaps it was because he had been trapped for so long. Whatever the reason, he was looking at the village as someone seeing a busy village for the first time.

Almost as if Monkey could read Fu's mind, he quickly grabbed a hold of Fu's wing to keep him from bolting.

"Stay near us Fu. We don't want to lose you." Monkey said.

Fu paused for a moment, as if thinking those words over. He then suddenly embraced Monkey in a strong winged hug.

"Awww, I wouldn't want to lose you either. You're a nice friend!" Fu said.

Monkey gasped for air, Fu's grip stronger then it appeared. Finally Fu released him. Crane couldn't help but chuckle a bit and whisper to Monkey.

"He gets attached quickly. Doesn't he?"

Though still getting air back, Monkey couldn't help but grin in agreement. Fu by now was following after Po, keeping close though from the way he looked around it was clear he wanted to go off and explore everything. It was rather much like watching a big kid.

As they headed to Ping's shop, Fu started to ramble on about whatever topic occurred to him to talk about.

"So yeah. I like Lilly pads. Their just so great because their nice and would never lie to you. What you see is what you get with a Lilly like rocks. But who wants to hear about rocks, right? Oh, and I-"

The rambling continued on like that until they reached the shop.

"Okay, we're here." Po said, slightly glad for the chance to interrupt Fu.

Fu stopped his rambling. Though the moment Po's back was turned he made his way into the kitchen,

"Hi!" Fu shouted from behind as he stirred a pot of noodles.

Ping cried out and very nearly flung the spoon he been using into the air. Once his heart started beating normally Ping turned to face Fu and Po who had just stepped in.

"Sorry, sorry! Fu here sort of got away from me." Po said.

"A new friend I suppose?" Ping asked, relaxing now both from his sons appearance and the fact Fu was grinning in a way that was non threatening.

"Yeah. But uhh, just a heads up. Try to be patient with here is umm... doesn't exactly have all his noodles in the bowl if you know what I mean." Po said.

Fu tilted his head.

"Noodles? What noodles? I don't have any noodles."

Ping looked to Fu, his look softening when he got at what Po was saying.

"I see. Well, since he's your friend you know he's always welcomed here." Ping said.

A loud sneeze and a cloud of white was what resulted of Fu sticking his head into a flour sack the kitchen had a light dusting of flour, including on Po and Ping. Ping did not look amused.

"He's still welcomed in the shop, but not back here." he finally said.

Po nodded in understanding and started to lead Fu out.

"Come on Fu, it'll be much easier... and probably a lot less messier, if you eat at one of the tables." Po said.

"How disappointing. There were no flowers in that flower sack at all." Fu mumbled.

Night was starting to fall over the valley. Though the night sky was serene and clear, the figures standing on top of a hill over looking the village promised trouble.

"Great... the palace is up all those stairs." a battle scarred warthog snorted.

"Maybe the stairs wouldn't look so daunting if you know, exercised a bit." a lanky wolf that looked like he had the touch of the mange chuckled.

The warthog glared at the wolf and swung his fist at him. The wolf only back flipped out of the way and laughed. Only two more of the group remained and the deep brown with black stripes cat was the next to speak.

"I wouldn't worry yourself over stairs Gang. I believe this crane we're looking for is in the village. Also, please put Haun down. I personally don't care if you two kill each other once out of my sight. But as long as I'm involved with this job, there will be no killing. Understand?" the cat said.

Gang let go of Haun's throat, dropping the wolf. Haun only laughed once he hit the ground.

"And just how do you know where the crane is anyways, Dewei?" Gang snorted.

"As I have explained many times, I have tracked his aura." Dewei replied with a deep sigh.

"Let me know when you have an actual answer for me. But as for the no killing thing, I wouldn't worry about me killing anyone. It's Xi Xu you'll want to keep an eye on." Gang said, glancing down at their last member.

The small rabbit said nothing. This might had been because of the metal mask on his head, the metal shaped into a terrible, grimacing face of a tucked demon. Xi Xu didn't even turn to look at the others. He only pointed at the village with one of the long, metal blades that seemed to be attached to his fingers.

Even in the silence, the group got his meaning.

"Well then boys, let's go catch us some cranes." Gang said with a grinned.

"Bet I catch one first!" Haun said with a whoop and started down to the village.

Dewei and Xi Xu were the last ones to follow. Xi Xu slowly made his way down the hill while Dewei followed. The cat couldn't help but shudder at the blank darkness he saw in Xi Xu's aura.


	5. Chapter 5

The mood for the four animals was good when they finally left Ping's shop. Even though Fu had more then once wandered over to other tables and had asked odd questions of the patrons ( who were a bit weirded out by the odd Crane coming up to them and asking such odd things but thankfully not enough to leave.) and once tried to see if his head would fit into the noodle bowl, the whole thing was much less of a disaster then Monkey or Crane had thought it might be.

"I like you guys." Fu said suddenly as they walked. "You're all really, really nice. And you don't get all yelly, or be mean and keep me in a cage, or lie to me. Though I suppose I wouldn't know if you were all lying if you're good enough. Unless you were rocks. Then I'd know right aw-"

"Hold on!" Monkey interrupted, latching onto a few words Fu had said. "Keep you in a cage? Fu, are you starting to remember anything about what happened to you?"

Fu paused. His face took on a pained look as he clearly was trying to think. Po frowned at the look but said nothing. He could tell whatever memories Fu was dredging up was hurting him, but it was important for him to talk about him if they were to get a hold of the kidnapper.

"I... think I do. There were cages. I know that. And... I think I was different when I first went into the cage and after someone lied to me. Why did he lie to me? He wasn't a rock. he had nothing to do with the rocks. That was all the Lilly pad that had to do with the rocks."

Fu's voice went a little high at the mention of lies and rocks. Monkey considered stopping Fu here, but Fu went on.

"The tiger... I remember the tiger. And I remember all the other cranes. Some of them were like me. The tiger would call us broken." Fu paused at this and looked to the others. "Am I really broken?"

"No. No of course you're not." Po said automatically, coming to the bird's side. "You're... chipped. You know, like a bowl with a small chip taken out of it. It's not the same, and it never will be again. But it's not ruined."

Fu smiled at this.

"I like that... chipped. That's much better then broken."

Po smiled back at Fu. He might had said something more if not for Fu suddenly letting out a squawk of terror and he moved in time to avoid a net thrown his direction. The other three turned to face Haun, Gang, Dewei, and Xi Xu.

"Aww, I missed." Haun whined.

"Why am I not shocked?" Gang grumbled before looking to the group. "Give us the cranes, and no one will get hurt here."

"uh, right. Like that's going to happen." Monkey commented.

Gang snorted and raised his wooden club weapon.

"Then i guess we fight."

"Not a problem." Po replied, getting into a fighting stance. "Crane, get Fu out of here."

Crane didn't need to be told this as he was already starting to lead Fu off to safety. As Gang and Haun lunged at Po and Monkey Dewei was the first to try and go after Crane and Fu. Hearing the cat coming, Crane gave an squawk and raised his wings and flapped them hard to enough to send enough dust flying in the air to blind the cat for a moment.

That didn't seem to have an effect on Xi Xu at all as he came running through the dust cloud moments later. Monkey noticed this, barely missing a kick from Haun who was constantly taunting his opponents as he did a number of cartwheels and back flips.

"Too slow, didn't hit me!" he cackled, going in for another hit. "And you'll never lay a hand on m-"

Monkey hit the wolf in the midsection with his tail. Haun gasped, his words cut off and doubled over.

"You're right. I didn't lay a hand on you." Monkey said with a grin.

A loud, fearful squawk sounded from a distance away. Monkey looked up, alarmed. He wasn't sure if that was Crane or Fu. Po saw the look and nodded to him.

"I think I can take these two. Go help Crane and Fu."

Sure that Po was right that he could take on Haun and Gang, Monkey ran in the direction he heard the squawk from. Fear for his lover spurred him on to move quickly. When he finally found the two cranes, Fu was backed up against a building and watching in fear as Crane was fighting off both Xi Xu and Dewei.

Dewei didn't look like he had much to bring to the fight until he pulled out a bo staff. Crane noticed briefly that there was some writing on the ends of the staff. His skills with calligraphy made it easy for him to read the character easily.

Block.

Crane was still pondering the meaning of that on the bo staff end as he dodged a kick for Xi Xu. Dewei suddenly lunged forward with the bo staff. Crane expected an swinging motion and positioned himself to block or dodge a swing. Instead, Dewei jabbed the end out where it jabbed Crane in the leg.

It wasn't a hard jab. The jab didn't even hurt. All the same, suddenly Crane found the leg folding underneath him as if all the energy it had to stand was gone.

"What?" Crane cried as he fell. "How-"

"I'm sorry. " Dewei said. "The chi blockage won't last for too long and you'll be just fine after that."

That certainly explained why the word block was on the end of the staff. Crane was still trying to get on one foot when Monkey attacked Dewei. The cat didn't even get a chance to use the bo staff when Monkey knocked the staff out of his hands.

Xi Xu, clearly not seeing Crane or Fu as a threat at the moment silently attacked Monkey. Monkey kicked out and ducked his head inches under the razor sharp metal claws. Dewei went to retrieve his staff as Xi Xu and Monkey fought. It didn't take long for Monkey to realise that a close quarters fight was not the best idea. At least, he realised that when some of the claws sliced into his shoulder.

Gritting his teeth against the pain Monkey leaped back and looked for something to throw. Taking out Xi Xu before Dewei retrieved his staff was the main worry right now. Finding some bowls from a dumpling cart that was abandoned as soon as the fight headed this way, Monkey threw those.

This didn't phase Xi Xu who cut through the first two bowls and sent the last one flying back at Monkey. Monkey didn't have time to avoid the bowl as it hit him in the head. For a moment Monkey was stunned by the hit. He could feel Xi Xu's presence behind him and hear Crane suddenly shouting his name. But he wasn't able to gather his wits enough to move out of the way.

Xi Xu was ready to stab into Monkey's chest when Dewei suddenly stood in front of Monkey.

"Woah! Hold on. You don't need to go that far! Besides, you know I said no kill-"

Dewei's words were cut off when Xi Xu stabbed him in the gut. His eyes grew wide with disbelief as he sagged to the ground. Crane and Fu looked just as disbelieving as Dewei had looked.

"You... killed your own team mate." Crane managed to say.

Xi Xu shrugged.

"Hey! Xi Xu, Dewei! We need to- woah!" Gang cried as he came upon the scene.

Looking at Dewei and then at Xi Xu's bloody claws, it didn't take Gang and Haun to figure out what happened here.

"And you say I'm scary." Haun whispered.

"Never mind that now. We have to get out of here. The panda kicked our tails but thankfully it'll take him sometime to catch up to us. Let's take the cranes and get out of here." Gang said.

"No..." Monkey said, starting to get his senses back. "I won't let-"

Monkey heard Crane cry his name again as Gang hit him, and then... blackness.


End file.
